June 16 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 89:1-18:

¹I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
²For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
³I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
⁴Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
⁵And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
⁶For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
⁷God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
⁹Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
¹⁰Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
¹¹The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
¹²The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
¹³Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
¹⁴Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
¹⁵Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
¹⁶In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
¹⁷For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
¹⁸For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

Devotional

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, or the sound of a trumpet. Is not that a strange beatitude? A people that know the sound of a trumpet is pronounced blessed! The idea conveyed here is not only that a trumpet is sounded, but that at the blast of the trumpet the people raise a shout of joy. We can understand that the people whose sins are forgiven is blessed, or the people "whose God is the Lord, " but how can a people be blessed simply because it knows the sound of a trumpet? We are reminded that in the year of Jubilee, on the Great Day of Atonement, a trumpet had to be sounded. We read, "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land." The sound of that trumpet meant liberty to the captives, freedom to the slaves, cancellation of debts and regaining possession of one's inheritance. The year of jubilee is symbolic of "the acceptable year of the Lord, " "the accepted time, " and of "the day of salvation." The blowing of the trumpet is symbolic of the preaching of the Gospel. Blessed is the people that know the Gospel sound, the glad tidings of sal­vation. They shall walk in the light of God's countenance, and in his name shall they rejoice. Let us blow the trumpet, and may it give a clear sound.

Prayer

Our Father, we thank Thee that the joyful sound, the glad tidings of salvation, has come to us. Help us to rejoice in Thy name. May we be exalted in Thy righteousness; for Thou art the glory of our strength, and in Thy favor our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defence, and the Holy one of Israel is our King. O Lord God, raise up men, and send them forth unto the ends of the earth to blow the trumpet of salva­tion, and to proclaim that the year of Jubilee is come, the year of Thy redeemed. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Lev. 25:9; Luke 4:19; 2 Cor. 6:2; Ps. 89:16.

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